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A Very Giving Advent

Are you tired of the “gimmies” or the “can-I-gets”? I sure am. Especially when they’re so prevalent at this time of year with every asking, “What did you ask Santa for?” Teaching gratitude and empathy aren’t easy lessons. We’ve found a way to lighten the burden, bring joy, and provide a life changing experience. What nice little gift!

DW is brilliant. Have I ever mentioned that?

Well, she’s shining bright again with this fantastic idea. Granted, it wasn’t technically ‘her idea’ but she has adapted to our family to make her idea. Then she brought the idea to life. Well, technically, Woody and Elfis, our house elves, brought it to life.

We aren’t doing the Advent calendar this year. No tiny piece of chocolate every day. We’re not skipping it because it’s “unhealthy”. Who doesn’t enjoy starting the day with a yummy piece of chocolate after breakfast? It’s a tasty way to count down the days until the Jolly Ol’ Elf himself comes.

One little girl of 3 years of age was told that when the chocolates in her advent calendar were gone it would be Christmas. Later in the day they couldn’t find her. They knew she was in the house, yet she was nowhere to be found. Not with her toys. Not in her room. Not in the bathroom. She was in the closet and had eaten all her chocolates. She proudly announces, “It’s Christmas now!”

This year our elves have delivered a special gift, a package of tasks to be completed. There is one act to be done each day. Every single one of them is a random act of kindness.

So far the boys have:

Donated food to the food bank

Shared hugs and smiles

Paid for an order at Tim Horton’s

Made a new friend (sat and talked with an older gentleman at Tim’s)

Today’s task was to buy coloring books and crayons and donate them to a doctor’s office. While I would LOVE for the boys to be the ones purchasing these items (usually from the dollar store) they currently don’t have enough in their wallets. Crash can’t even afford to pay attention. Bang, on the other hand, has plenty, but it’s not exactly fair to make Mr. Penny Pincher pay for all the donated stuff. However, the food bank items they did pay for themselves. They each had been given $5 gift cards by the grocery store (thanks a million Superstore!) They spent it on food for the food bank.

I’ll leave a link to the files if you’d like to do your own Random Acts of Kindness. It’ll be my gift to you. I mean, DW’s gift to me that I’m regifting to you. Spread across 5 pages, there are 25 acts in all. The last page contains a few blanks so you can add your own. Just click the image to download it and print it!

The first rule of Christmas is “It is far better togive than it is to receive“.

14 thoughts on “A Very Giving Advent”

When my kids were young I stuffed each day’s pocket on the Advent calendar with some type of task or family activity, but you’ve taken the idea to a whole different level! I hope you enjoy doing all your pay it forwards.

We are paying it forward every day 🙂 The boys are enjoying (as are we) picking out the task for the day. We’re hoping it shows them that it’s important to keep others in mind. Your idea of the task and family activity is good, too. I may include a few “family nights” in our acts of kindness.

Great idea. Another blogger I know is sending letters from the “Kindness Fairy” to her children every day with a small act of kindness they must perform. ” Crash can’t even afford to pay attention.” Ha! Best ever.

Great idea! Little Man raised some money to buy some groceries for our local food shelter, so we’re gonna go shopping tomorrow, will have to get in some others too. (And where the heck was this calendar that gives out chocolates when I was growing up? Never heard of that, but I like it for myself 😀 )